cnelson1990

Hey folks,

I see my crash video has already managed to reach Rennlist, but I'm Craig - the idiot in the video who crashed my black GT4 and even more idiotically got out of the car on a live track. I've lurked on this forum especially for the track setup guide, but made an account to hopefully glean some wisdom from you vets.


The aftermath: http://imgur.com/a/lv8H9

The truth is I made a lot of stupid decisions along the way that led to the crash and that will make it a lot more punishing.

1) I didn't buy track insurance because 600 bucks a day seemed ridiculous considering I've been HPDE/HSAX driving for 3 years without incident. I'm a moron and will be reminded of such on the 5th of the next ~54 months.

2) This was my first track day out with RE-71Rs, and even though I knew they heated up fast and get greasy after only a couple hot laps, I pushed hard on my 3rd green lap after getting past the Corvette.

3) I turned off stability control with tires I'd never driven before. I'd driven with no nannies at my previous track events on Dunlop Sport Maxx Races and Michelin PSSs and have had no problem controlling the car beyond the limit. Whoops.

4) I got out of the car on a live track. Yes, I took a look around before doing so and saw oncoming cars slowing down, but THIS IS REALLY DUMB.

As for what happened, I keep asking myself the same damn question and playing it over in my head. I've seen a lot of comments suggesting that I lifted mid-corner - but I definitely didn't lift off the gas completely, just eased off the throttle a touch to get my nose in to the second corner. The rears slipped loose without warning, and by the time I had the wheel cranked and brake smashed, I knew it wasn't going to end well. I didn't go over the grass, but I heard from some folks at the track that the outer half of that area tends to get a bit dusty, so I think that may have contributed as well. I was taken to the hospital at the strong recommendation of the safety folks, but got the all-clear from the trauma center and was discharged in under an hour.

I know that I'm alive and things could've gone SO much worse, but I'm having a really hard time looking past the factors I did have under my control. While I'm fairly well off for my age, I'm not a millionaire and don't have 50k-80k-?!?!k sitting around ready to use for car repairs - a lot of my savings went into buying the car back in March.

At this point I'm having the car looked and assessed for damage, but I'm expecting either an astronomically high repair bill (80k+) or total loss. At this point, I think my most likely option is trying to salvage as much as I can and building a 3.8L flat-six kit car for wheel-to-wheel racing, but that'll take time. I'm thinking of taking the carcass to Kelly Moss Motorsports and seeing what they can do with it.

If anyone has had similar experiences with any recommendations/advice on how to proceed, I'm all ears.

Airbag997

Unfortunately, sh** happens. The good news is you and everybody else are ok. No injuries.


I had a similar experience (albeit with a bike). I'm a very experienced track day rider took my brand new off the showroom floor Aprilia RSV4 Factory to HPR in CO. Never ridden there before, but was just there for a "Shake-down". Long story short, I tucked the front at T5 and wrecked with 800 miles on the odometer. People who like to go fast eventually crash. It's the nature of the beast, and it happens to the best of us. But we learn from our mistakes, regroup, and move forward. Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react.


Hope everything works out as best as possible with your situation.

chillindrdude

not sure what can be done to be made whole.

the complete severance of the front suspension/wheel indicates a pretty high energy impact. it's likely the frame is compromised. and even if it could be straightened, I am not sure I'd trust that for my safety.

an option would be to find a totaled gt4 with rear damage, and graft parts as necessary, but again, that would be predicated on the integrity of the frame.

this was indeed an expensive lesson for you. i always get track insurance if i can't walk away comfortably from the cash value of the car. regardless of your skill level or number of incident-free years, there are things out of your control while on track.

Ryan_G

That really sucks. I watched the video a day or two ago and was really hoping you had track insurance. As a fellow HPDE'er this would be my nightmare. I currently just track a miata so I could write it off without an issue but I was planning to pick up the next Gen gt4 to track. I'll make sure I learn from this. Always purchase the insurance.

Viperguy324

First, I'm glad you're ok.


Second, IMHO... You have 54 months to think about it.. And I would NOT get into open- wheel anything until you improve your reaction time. First wait and see what the repairs will come to. A lot of people dig themselves into a financial hole at this point. Hang it up until you can sort out the car first. I highlighted some key issues in your post that say it's time to regroup and think.


Many moons ago I used to buy and break race bikes from guys that made bad decisions, and I've heard a lot of them...


And I can go on and on about my Subaru N12 that has been sitting with a new motor in it since 2014.. and not driven once. I should have walked away from it years ago...


Maybe you can stuff it all in a blown 981?


Cheers,
John

spg993tt

hey man, hats off to you for being strong enough to post on here. a couple of things. you go on the track enough, you push hard , and everyone is bound to crash. it happens. a lot. that looked like a brutally dangerous track where the punishment is way more severe than the crime committed. my guess is you just squeezed on the gas a bit early and the car got away, and you had no shot of recovery with concrete walls on each side.

my gues si the car is a total loss. id sort of agree that the chassis is probably dinged up, suspension, wheels, all of it. you can probably sell al ot of the car thats undamaged ie engine ,trans, seats, all the other stuff for reasonably money...or contemplate fixing it and building it into a nice safe race car.

lastly, for all you DE guys out there, i always come back to the same thing...dress and come loaded for bear. racing suit, gloves, helmet hans, cage, Fire bottle, etc. the worst stuff can happen in a blink. its an accident, not premeditated, but stuff breaks, things happen, and you forget you're at a VERY high rate of speed. and you forget that you really didnt come prepared for mischief.

i almost totalled a gt3 997 street car my fourth or fifth time on the track. go away with just 4 destroyed tires. i sold it that week, and had a great shop build me an affordable 986 boxster, safe, reliable, fun, and grew into faster stronger cars thereafter. still love me those boxsters.
but it had a cage, bottle, racing seat, hans, scroth belts, FE, all the safety stuff necessary to ensure if i had a 1 in a million whacking, id walk away...hopefully.

anyway, you're in one piece. its a financial hit, which sucks, but you're alive and in good health. come up with a game plan and get back on track. you are very good, you just spun it on a track that doesnt tolerate spinning.

cfiiman

Couldn't have said it better. I'm a fairly experienced track rider on motorcycles. One of the main reasons I choose bikes was the expense factor all the way around. After taking a very nice Ducati Superbike to the track I decided if I wanted to push anything I needed to have a dedicated track bike for this very reason so I built one that if I totaled would be no big deal. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 as they say so I'll I can say is sorry it happened. At least you were out there living the dream with your car, and didn't do something like this leaving a cars and coffee like some a$$hats I see on YoutTube that total their cars and other people's putting a bunch of spectators in danger at the same time trying to show off. It's a car, it can be fixed, you walked away that is what is most important.

tasman

Sorry to hear. That sucks. Glad you are ok and good luck with your decision

needmoregarage

Glad you are okay! Best of luck going forward.

Thanks for sharing what happened. It benefits the community to learn from these painful mistakes. I can't imagine a more difficult first post!

Buteo

Sorry to hear Craig.

Glad you are okay!

paradocs98

Glad you're on here posting and you're okay. You're showing lots of courage and maturity for posting and seeking input. Sorry for the loss of the car. Out of curiosity, which DE/trackday organizer were you running with?

85Gold

I've been there before with one totaled E36M3 and a 6GT2 with $18k in damage. Neither had insurance when it happened. What I learned was to look in the mirror and see what I did wrong, and it is a compounding of mistakes that get you in trouble, so you are on the right track looking at your decisions to see what you did wrong.

I still carry the bent tow hook from the GT2 to remind me that if I don't pay attention to what the car and brain are telling me it is time to come in and take a break.

Peter

tasman

As Peter well knows I've been there before too. Don't be too hard on yourself. Reflect on the incident for the future. Can and does happen to any of us that track

drdonger

Sorry to hear, but glad you are okay. Safety and health are most important. You can replace a car but not yourself. I am learning toward purchasing track insurance from now on after seeing this. You not only learned yourself but are teaching others a lesson. I never take off traction control at the track either. It has saved me numerous times already.

audipwr1

Mature post.

Sorry nothing to say except it sucks

Think you did lift to get car in / rotation caught by surprise then did more lift instead of more throttle

Regardless none of that matters - you ok

Financials blow - you can prob get 25-30 out of the car parting it id wager though